Gesture as language

Mudras function as a visual language: in iconography they identify a deity or a scene and convey its meaning; in meditation and tantric practice they are held to focus and seal energy; in classical Indian dance they form an elaborate vocabulary of expression. The hand positions of Shingon and other esoteric Buddhist schools carry this into East Asian practice.

The atlas gives each mudra its form, its name and its meaning across the traditions that use it. Mudras connect the East Asian Buddhist material under Eastern Systems with the wider Indian body of practice.